*Undetermined

Question

Hello Teachers! What is  an undermined gerund? Thanks.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

I don't know and I can't find it, Hanuman-- can you give us any context?

CalifJim · Answer

Hanuman,
Do you mean "undetermined", or "indeterminate", or "without a determiner"?
I've never heard of such a thing.
Jim

Hanuman_2000 · Answer

Sir,

I asked some questions to my teacher such as

1.He slept while reading.(is "reading" here noun?)

2.HE selpt during reading.

Which one is correct?

I want to know that after the word "while" any gerund is possible without object.

HE answered like this

an -ing form after 'while' is reckoned a participle, not a gerund, since 'while', as already stated, is not a preposition.

Although 'during' is a preposition, it may not govern an undetermined gerund as object, so #2 is incorrect.

Thanks.

Mister Micawber · Answer

An 'undetermined gerund' may be an unmodified gerund, which looks uncomfortably like the participle (the nonfinite clause)-- and that could be the reason your teacher considers it unacceptable.

'He slept during my reading' is OK-- it is now more likely a gerund.
'He slept during his reading' is grammatically OK but illogical, as another member pointed out.

Or perhaps, as Calfornia Jim suggests, an 'undetermined gerund' is specifically one without an article:

'He slept during a reading.'
'He slept during the reading.'

Now the '~~ing' forms are undeniably nouns. (In both these sentences, of course, the idea is different from your original~~ which I presume was that he fell asleep while he was reading. They now mean that he was sleeping while another person read.)

*Undetermined

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